AP: Alaskans cringe after month of listening to Palin

[Bubbha Jo]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaskans' two-year honeymoon with Gov. Sarah Palin may have ended around the time the Republican vice presidential candidate started saying that she told Congress "thanks but no thanks" on the Bridge to Nowhere.

The line brought cheers on the campaign trail but drew winces back home among those who knew Palin had supported the $400 million Ketchikan bridge and only turned against it after Washington backed off its financing.

"I think people went a little bit like Homer Simpson — 'D'oh!'" said Ivan Moore, a pollster who has tracked a drop in Palin's popularity in Alaska since she was named Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate on Aug. 29.

Most people in Alaska are staunch defenders of Palin and say that she has represented the state well during a month in the national spotlight. They are proud of how she has handled herself in her rapid ascent from small-town mayor to Alaska governor to vice presidential nominee.

But they now cringe when Palin opens her mouth. Most are surprised at how their usually confident governor has foundered in interviews, giving rambling answers that, like the Bridge to Nowhere line, either go against their own recollections or end up lampooned in "Saturday Night Live" skits and by the hosts of late-night talk shows.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081002/ap_on_el_pr/palin_the_cringe_factor_2

[Fleshdancer]

1. As a Texan, I totally feel their pain. n/t

[TwilightGardener]

2. She was a big fish in a small pond. Maybe Alaskans are just coming to grips

with the fact that they're a small, atypical pond, and that governing their state doesn't mean hooey to the rest of America.

[Egnever]

3. Surrounded by sharks

She had no idea what she was getting into. You can see the fear in her eyes now. I think she realized two weeks ago how out of her league she is. Its been downhill ever since.

She is going to walk onstage for this debate so nervous It will be a feat for her to just put together a coherent sentence.

[blue sky at night]

4. I wish I could hear them say....

sorry America, for we knew not what we did. They should be hanging their heads in shame, but of course they are republicans...you know, they know nothing of the standard set of human values.

Right now all of the folks I know that voted for the Idiot in Chief are being real quiet...but I like to remind them that enough of them voted "FOR" him to get us where we are today...that forgiveness thing is not burning very brightly for me right now. IN FACT I would like to kick their asses and tell them "I told you so......"

Where is your fucking "W" Sticker now?????

[Larkspur]

5. Palin was always a right wing robot

Many Alaskans may have chosen to overlook this but the diverse national audience saw right through her.

As much as I disliked Ronnie Reagan, he could effectively communicate right wing ideology and make it sound plausible, especially when Democrats had controlled government for 30-40 years.

Palin is a spawn of Newt Gingrich's farm system that teaches local and state level right wingers sound bites and how to attack Democrats and liberals. Their attacks are ineffective at the national level now thanks to years of Republican control of government that hollowed out our nation.